


the ministry files

by brainyisalwayssexy



Series: Remadora in Film Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: ;), F/M, Ok bye, based on the movie canon, based on the series of photos that blew up the remadora fandom, don't worry!, if you don't know which ones, they're included lmaoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27676145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brainyisalwayssexy/pseuds/brainyisalwayssexy
Summary: Tonks and Remus go on a mission, and the truth comes out. Oh, and the Ministry's onto them, too.Based on movie canon. Set during OOTP.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Series: Remadora in Film Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043574
Comments: 15
Kudos: 44





	the ministry files

“Are you _sure_ we weren’t made?”

“ _Positive_ , Remus.”

Tonks turns to look at her partner, who’s grimacing. She wonders if it’s because of the cover they’d just been playing — a couple, in a tavern in North London.

It had been their first time with this cover story. They were good friends already, so she figured it would be easy enough.

But then he'd gotten oddly withdrawn. Wouldn't touch her, or even look at her. Responded to her faux-flirtations with little more than ice or a blank stare.

So she wasn't wrong in saying they'd maintained their cover. They _did_ look like a couple -- a couple having a _serious_ row, is all.

It's not just this mission, though. She’s been a bit irritated with him in general, lately.

He’s been so damn _grouchy_ , this past week. Well, _grouchy_ isn't the right word for it, exactly. But when she looks at him, he averts his eyes, looks like he's trying to not be all there. And he won’t spill as to _why_.

She'd wanted to take him by the collar and shake him. Tell him that whatever he's decided to be mad at her about, he's being bloody ridiculous.

But anyways. Now's not the time to pick a fight, as it were. They've got a mission to wrap up and get on with.

Remus doesn't look convinced, still. But he moves on.

“Right. Well, in any case, we’re not going back there anytime soon."

"And as for this place" -- he gestures to the small cottage they've apparated in front of -- "Well, we'll be done with it after today. Dumbledore believes it's compromised.”

"Okay, so what's the plan, again?"

He explains the protocol Dumbledore had relayed to him earlier that day. She listens while scanning the surroundings. It's part practical and part personal -- okay, it's _mostly_ personal, because she doesn't really want to look at him right now.

That, of course, is when she sees a flash of something in the corner of her eyes. Something unidentifiable, off in the distance.

No. It _couldn’t_ be…

"What?" Remus' voice breaks her thoughts.

She shakes herself out of her reverie. Whatever she thought she saw, it’s gone.

Tonks turns back to him.

"I thought I... never mind. Mad-Eye's paranoia is getting to me."

Ordinarily, he'd snark at her a bit for that. All friendly, of course. Even flirty, sometimes, if she could get it out of him.

Instead, he just shrugs. His face is unreadable.

 _Shit_. She’s not getting _anywhere_ with this.

“Let’s split up then. I’ll circle around and meet you inside.”

Remus nods. Turns on his heel and head away from her. The movement is a little too practiced, too _forced_ , and she hates herself for feeling that way.

This is all fucked. And she doesn’t even know _why_.

So she waits until he’s gone to sit down on the bench.

Takes the opportunity to be alone with her thoughts, if for just a little bit longer.

* * *

Eventually, she ambles inside, where she finds him inspecting the small kitchen.

"You into cabinets now, Remus?"

He smirks at that. "Funny."

She grins, finally feeling the ice of the last week dissipate a bit. "You can help Sirius pick out some new ones for Grimmauld, then."

Evidently, the wrong thing to say.

Remus looks irritated, then. “You show him, if you want."

Ugh. _What the hell_? At the mention of his _best friend_?

Yeah, Sirius was right irritating sometimes. But this is a bit much, still.

She’s tempted to tell him to sod off. But she decides to ignore it.

"Got what we came for?"

"I already did, yes." He motions at his suit pocket, and she doesn’t miss a sudden tic in his jaw.

“Great.” she manages. “Let’s wrap up and head out, then.”

And she’s about to turn around, when a sudden flash of light, looking almost like a reflection, catches her eye —

“Get away from the window!” she shouts.

She doesn’t know what possesses her, but suddenly she tackles him down. They land hard on the floor, Tonks slamming him back against the cabinets.

“What was _that_ for?!" he sputters, though he keeps his voice low.

She ignores him. Casts a wordless spell Moody had taught her, of his own making. One specifically meant to detect intruders. The charm comes back flashing yellow, meaning they're alone now, but --

"Shit. Someone _was_ here, earlier."

" _What?_ "

“Ministry buggers, probably." she adds, as it strikes her why she saw a _flash_ , of all things. It _had_ to have been a camera. They’d been photographed together outside, for sure. "Shit.”

She’s going to have to come up with a cover story to explain. One that might need to extend to the tavern, too, because how _else_ would they have …? _Unless_ …?

Fuck. Either way, she’s going to have some explaining to do.

“Well,” she continues, trying to find a way to rationalize this away, “I suppose what they _didn’t_ see won’t hurt them.”

Then she realizes she’s still sitting on top of him, and that he hasn’t moved away, either.

“Ah.” he says delicately, and she sees him visibly swallow. “Lucky them.”

She blinks. Because what kind of a thing is _that_ to say, exactly?

The Ministry wouldn’t see them… tangled together on the floor, with her all but straddling him, before he pushed her off his lap?

Except he _hasn’t_ pushed her off, she notes. In fact, she faintly registers his hand on the small of her back. If she didn’t know him better, she’d say it teeters on the edge of very _un-gentlemanly_ behavior.

But again, _why_ _would Remus—?_

**Oh.**

And suddenly, it all makes _sense_. His dour mood, his snappishness during the past week anytime she’d mentioned Sirius.

How he refused to touch her in public, even for the sake of a cover, but has no issue doing it now.

The laughter and late night chats, the soft looks from him that she would catch in passing, leaving her to wonder.

She'd assumed it was all friendly, back then. Kept her own burgeoning feelings hidden away, for fear that she was being presumptuous at best and downright delusional at worst.

After all, who gets a schoolgirl crush on a colleague? A former _professor_ , no less? And why on earth would he _ever_ return those feelings?

She’d thought she was crazy for even _entertaining_ the thought. Now she knows she was wrong.

But the biggest giveaway, really, is the way once-steely look on his face has been replaced by something _far_ more vulnerable. One that answers any lingering questions, if she'd had any.

Her jaw falls slack. _How had she missed this?_

"Remus, you absolute _git_ ," she mutters, and then she wraps her arms around his neck, leans down and kisses him.

If he’s surprised, he only hesitates for a moment, and then he’s kissing her back just as eagerly. His tongue traces out her lower lip, and she gasps into his mouth, loses herself to the sensation. Any semblance of holding back is suddenly _gone_.

Well. For all of ten seconds, anyways. Presumably, Remus then comes to his senses and pulls away from her, looking ruffled and, _frankly_ , hot as _hell_.

“Wait, _wait_ — is this OK? You don’t — ” he hesitates, “— you don’t like someone else?”

Like he hadn’t snogged her senseless a few seconds ago. Like _she_ hadn’t been the one to kiss _him_ , first. _This man._

“It’s _you_ , you idiot.” she manages, still breathless. “It’s _always_ been you.”

If she could find a way to commit the look on his face to memory, she would. Something dazed and lovestruck, both.

“I — I _swear_ , I _thought_ —", and this time he cuts himself off, laughing.At his own idiocy, though she's offered up quite a bit of her own, too.

"Yeah, you and I need to _stop thinking_ , it seems." she murmurs, and then, a command --

“So shut up and _kiss me_ , Remus.”

And then the last thing she remembers is his boyish grin before he pulls her onto his lap and does just that.

* * *

**[At the Ministry of Magic.]**

“Madam Undersecretary, as requested. The files on Nymphadora Tonks.”

“Ah.” Umbridge puts down her cup of tea delicately. Sweeps forward and takes the file folder from a jumpy assistant at Dawlish’ side.

“The photos are fairly recent, I presume?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he clarifies, and then, by way of explanation —

“She was spotted this weekend in the company of Remus Lupin. At a tavern by some Ministry colleagues, and then at this cottage for a few hours. No idea who owns the property. It’s being monitored now, but we couldn’t intrude without tipping them off.”

“In fact,” and he hesitates a moment, before continuing — “it’s possible they _may_ have spotted us.”

“ _Oh_.” Umbridge smiles, then, but it’s the kind that flickers with an acute foreboding of danger, one he knows _all_ too well. “And what _exactly_ would an Auror be doing in the company of a known werewolf?”

“No idea, ma’am,” the assistant chimes in breathlessly, looking a little too eager to speak again. “ _Unless_ …”

The assistant hesitates for a moment, and then he looks like he might be sick.

Dawlish watches as his boss puts the pieces together. Why two people might be together for so long, for reasons unrelated to a secret society or espionage of any sort. It’s not a particularly pretty picture.

“Are you suggesting a romance with the werewolf? A _half-breed_? How _quaint_.”

Umbridge’s mouth curls into a sneer, but her face splotches red, betraying that the matter is anything _but_ quaint. Dawlish can see the words she’s biting down now— sickening, unnatural, disgusting. _Repulsive_.

As for him, well, the thought is… bizarre.

(Bizarre, yes, but not _impossible_.)

(Stranger things _have_ happened.)

It’s another long, painful moment before Umbridge speaks again.

“ _Well_ ”, she starts delicately. “If it _is_ true, then she’s an absolute idiot, and most certainly not worth worrying over. Even _Dumbledore_ would not recruit an individual with such _foul_ sexual tastes.”

She snaps the file shut, seemingly satisfied with this line of thought. Hands it back to the assistant, who’s now withdrawn back into his shell.

“I would like to think it’s not true. Nevertheless, the possibility remains. I think we should investigate it further, but on low priority. What say you, Dawlish?”

And he wonders, then, what he _should_ say. If anything.

She’s only in her early twenties, this girl. The idea that she could be working for Dumbledore in secret is preposterous on its own, with or without the added mystery of her relationship with a werewolf.

More importantly, however, Dawlish realizes how quickly a false escalation could hurt her career. And in a rare moment of clarity, he decides it’s not worth it, Ministry be damned.

So he speaks again —

“She’s a just silly young woman, ma’am. Whatever the relationship is, it’s clearly a clever red herring, meant to throw us off scent. I’ll report whatever else I find on her, but I believe we can close it.”

“Excellent. See that it’s done, Dawlish.”

Umbridge steps closer, and he’s suddenly aware of the dangerous glint in her eyes that’s returned.

“I _will_ have order. At whatever cost.”

An inexplicable shudder goes down his spine, in spite of himself. She gives him a saccharine-sweet smile, and it’s only then, for the _briefest_ of moments, that he wonders if there’s something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface.

“That is all. You may leave now, Auror.”

That, of course, his cue to _get the fuck out_.

And so he does.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed! 💕 Also, I'm desidarling123 on Tumblr if you wanna say hi. 👋


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